Heller's Girlfriend (16 page)

“I am truly in heaven,” she
pronounced.

“Me too.”

Springing up, she threw herself
onto me, straddling me, bouncing up and down in excitement.

“You’re killing me!” I
protested. “Get off!” She stopped suddenly and felt my waist.

“Wow! Tilly, you are
really
cut now. I can feel muscles in your waist. So hot!
I’m going to use you to pick up guys tonight. You want to score
tonight, right?”

I sat up and pushed her off me.
“No! I have a boyfriend, remember. I don’t need anyone else.”

“You
say
you have a
boyfriend, but I’ve never met him. What’s the matter with him? Is
he really ugly?”

“Of course not!”

“Well, when am I going to meet
him?”

“One day,” I replied vaguely,
not wanting to remind myself how little of our lives Will and I had
shared with each other. We hadn’t even met each other’s parents
yet. And I couldn’t explain the reluctance I had to introduce him
to my friends and family, but I knew it wasn’t helping our
relationship grow any stronger.

“How’s it going with
Heller?”

“Screw Heller.”

She sat up suddenly. “Yes,
please!”

I laughed. “Settle petal. No men
tonight, please. It’s just you and me.”

“I’ll try,” she promised. “But
what if I meet someone really hot and want to do him? You could
just kind of turn your back and block your ears while we got busy
here in the room.”

“No! Gross. If you want to do
him, you can do him in the nightclub bathroom.”

She shrugged. “S’pose. Wouldn’t
be the first time.”

“Let’s go to the spa,” I
suggested, knowing that would take her mind off her endless carnal
desires. We raced down to the spa where we spent the next couple of
hours being pummelled and pampered. It was wonderful; it was bliss.
Afterwards I felt as though I’d had twenty orgasms without any
effort on my behalf. And that felt
really
good!

We browsed in the shops,
wondering who on earth could afford the overpriced trinkets on
offer. We stopped at the hotel cafe for fancy coffees, before
returning to our room to lounge around, drinking champagne, until
it was dinnertime. We dressed up for dinner, stacking on the makeup
and bling. Dixie wore a red mini dress that hugged her generous
curves flatteringly and some long black boots. She was still
sporting a cute black pixie hairdo. I wore a beautiful wispy halter
neck dress that floated around my legs caressingly, leaving my back
bare, and a pair of high-heeled silver sandals. I would tower over
nearly everybody, but I didn’t care because I wasn’t out to pick
anyone up so it didn’t matter. I piled my hair up on top of my
head, leaving some tendrils free, making me even taller.

We admired ourselves in the
mirror and smiled at each other. We looked good enough to eat.

Our meal at the restaurant was
delicious, and we attracted a lot of attention with our gales of
laughter. I think the staff were relieved when we finished and
left, deciding to head off to the nightclub for the rest of the
evening. We’d just exited the restaurant and were walking across
the foyer to catch the lift to the second floor club, when I
stopped suddenly in dismay and clutched Dixie’s arm.

“I’m going to need some help
getting through this, babe,” I begged her, and then she noticed
what I had. Walking towards us was Heller, accompanied by an
arrestingly beautiful woman, her hands clinging to his arm tighter
than a barnacle on a rock.

“Ooh,” murmured Dixie.

“That bastard,” I fumed softly.
I could not believe this was a coincidence. Heller
knew
I
was staying at this hotel with Dixie. I’d told him yesterday. He
was going to ruin my weekend.

He pretended to notice us, acted
taken aback, and made a beeline over. His companion’s
unenthusiastic expression was probably matched by my own. She
looked us up and down in what struck me as a very disdainful
manner.

“Matilda, what a surprise,”
Heller untruthfully exclaimed, smiling.

“Isn’t it just?” I responded
sarcastically. “You remember Dixie, of course?”

“Of course. How are you,
Dixie?”

“Fine thanks, Heller,” Dixie
simpered. I shot her a sour look. She’d always been a big Heller
fan.

“I don’t believe you’ve met
Vanessa before?”

“I don’t believe I have,” I
agreed politely, shaking the hand she reluctantly loosened from her
death grip on Heller and offered me limply. It felt like touching a
dead jellyfish. My eyes blasted flames of rage at him. He
conveniently avoided any eye contact.

“Why don’t we all have a drink
together in the bar?” he suggested brightly.

I was about to decline with
reprehensible rudeness, when Dixie accepted with a sly wink at me.
Heller herded us all towards the bar and left us at a small table
while he fetched our drinks.

“So, you’re Matilda?” Vanessa
drawled in a captivatingly husky voice. The tight smile on her face
was contradicted by her unfriendly condescending tone. It set my
hackles rising immediately.

“Yes, I’m Matilda,” I answered
flatly, and we checked each other out.

She was medium height, slim,
with long straight glossy black hair dramatically parted in the
middle. Her skin was milky pale, and her carefully applied makeup
enhanced her black eyes and full lips. She was wearing an expensive
plain shift dress in silky black, highlighted with only a few
jet-black accessories. On closer inspection she wasn’t as beautiful
as she first appeared, but obviously knew enough tricks to minimise
her flaws. It was hard to determine her age, but I would have
guessed early thirties. She was elegant, sophisticated and very
striking – someone who would instantly capture the attention of
men. Someone any man would be proud to have as his companion. Next
to her I felt clumsy, ugly and uncouth.

But she wasn’t perfect, I noted
with some satisfaction. The pinkie finger on her left hand was bent
crooked, as if it had broken and never set properly. A tiny flaw on
a flawless woman.

And she was cold. Frosty. Icy.
There was no warmth emanating from her at all. I sensed something
over-contrived in her appearance. She was stiff and proud, each
movement calculated, no spontaneity at all, almost as if she was
acting a part and had to remember to stay in character at all
times. If she had genuinely smiled or laughed, I think her whole
facade would have cracked apart. She clearly didn’t warm to me
either, staring at me with an intensity I found disconcerting. She
didn’t even spare Dixie a second glance.

Heller soon returned with flutes
of champagne for the three of us, and a soda water with lime for
himself. He rarely drank, which is why I can always rely on him to
pick me up after an evening out.
Well, I used to be able to rely
on him
, I thought sadly.

As soon as he sat down, Vanessa
had her hands on him again, one hand crooked around his arm, the
other possessively resting on his thigh. He slid his arm around her
waist and she smiled up, her eyes loaded with a hunger for him that
was the first flash of honest emotion on her face I’d seen. He
smiled down at her and they shared one of those glances that
couples indulge in, excluding all other people. The powerful and
painful stab of pure jealousy that jolted through my body shocked
me. My face must have betrayed some of that raw emotion because she
shot me a nasty little triumphant smile and snuggled further
against him.

I had to fight every instinct
screaming inside me to stay seated and to not flee the bar as I
really, really wanted to do, unable to face any more of this
torture. Instead, determined not to show any further weakness, I
plastered a glittering smile on my face and talked animatedly about
what Dixie and I had done that afternoon and our lovely meal that
evening. Dixie butted in constantly, correcting me and finishing my
sentences, our usual method of communication with each other. That
took us through the glass of champagne and when Heller offered to
buy us another, we both hastily declined.

“We wouldn’t dream of holding
you up. I’m sure you have an exciting evening planned, and Dixie
and I are keen to go dancing,” I said, edging away from the table.
Heller frowned at me, not pleased by our overeager departure.

“It was so nice to meet you,”
Vanessa said insincerely, glad to see us leave. I gave them a
strained smile in response, not even being able to muster the
insincerity to say the same back to her.

“Bye Heller,” Dixie trilled,
ignoring Vanessa and waving at him coquettishly as we finally
escaped, Heller’s eyes following us the entire way. I hurried Dixie
to the nightclub before he called us back.

“God, what a bitch she is!”
Dixie exclaimed.

“I reckon. What was up her butt?
I’ve seen planks of wood that were less stiff than her. And was it
my imagination or was she giving me the evil eye the whole
time?”

“She definitely was. What a sour
face. God only knows what Heller sees in her.”

“Apparently she’s an outstanding
fuck,” I said sourly.

“So am I, but I don’t see him
chasing after
me
,” she complained.

“Why did you agree to have a
drink with them? I was going to blow them off.”

“I could tell it pissed her off
no end. It was worth it just to see the look on her face.” She
grinned at me. “And we had a glass of real French champagne for
free.”

“Let’s just forget about them.
I’m not letting bloody Heller ruin my weekend,” I declared
stridently and threw myself into the serious business of enjoying
the evening. And after a few more champagnes, I couldn’t have cared
less about Heller any more.

Dixie and I worked up a good
sweat dancing for hours and hours, sometimes with men, mostly
together. We stayed until the nightclub shut in the early morning
and the staff good-naturedly ordered us out. We were both quite
drunk by then and made wobbly progress to our room. We didn’t
bother to undress or change, but fell onto our beds and straight to
sleep.

I slept straight through until
about ten. I staggered to the bathroom, frightened myself with my
reflection and jumped into the shower to make myself more
presentable. Then I dragged Dixie out of bed, marched her to the
shower and ordered room service breakfast for us both. We dawdled
over a huge hangover-curing breakfast, went for a swim in the
beautiful pool and then it was time for us to check out. I drove
Dixie home and hugged her fiercely before she stepped out of the
car.

“That was fun, Tils. Let’s do it
again soon,” she said brightly. “As long as you’re paying
though.”

“Okay. Sounds fair,” I laughed.
“See you soon, Dix. Bye.”

I drove myself home, and spent
the rest of the day lounging around on the rooftop with Daniel and
Niq, soaking in the hot tub and playing pool. They begged me to
barbeque for them for dinner, so I quickly whipped up some salads
and threw some chicken breasts and prawns onto the hotplate. We had
just started eating when Heller turned up. He sniffed
appreciatively.

“Is there enough for me
too?”

“Sure,” I shrugged. “But if Sid
and Clive turn up, everybody hide.”

We munched our way through
dinner and I made Daniel and Niq clean up while I moved my virtuous
glass of water over to the sun lounges and settled down on one to
enjoy the last rays of sunshine for the day. Heller sat on the sun
lounge next to me. I closed my eyes and ignored him, not
particularly wanting to talk.

“Did you and Dixie enjoy your
weekend together?”

“Yes, thank you.” My voice was
cool and unwelcoming.

He didn’t take the hint. “I had
a good evening too.”

“That’s nice.”

“Wasn’t that was a coincidence
running into you like that?”

“I told you I was staying
there.”

“I must have forgotten.”

Bullshit!
I thought,
opening my eyes and shooting him a sceptical look, before closing
them again. Daniel and Niq finished the washing up and dragged me
back into the hot tub with them. Heller soon followed, but after
only a short time, I decided I’d had enough and wished them all a
pleasant evening, waving off their pleas for me to stay longer.

I took a quick shower and called
Will. There was no answer, which was strange. He was due back from
the conference this evening. I left him a message conveying my
extremely urgent desire to see him again. I was growing desperate
for some sex.

There was a knock on my door and
I groaned out loud, recognising the knocker. No point in not
opening the door, he had a master swipe card anyway. Heller walked
in and closed the door.

“Didn’t I just say goodnight to
you?” I asked impatiently. “Usually that implies that I won’t see
you again until the next morning.”

“I think you’re avoiding me,
Matilda.”

“What makes you think that?”

“You run away every time I come
near you.”

“I’m tired. I had a very late
night. It has nothing to do with you. You seem to think that
everything I do is related to you.”

“Obviously that would be my
preference.” He smiled at me. “Why don’t you want to talk to me any
more?”

I sighed. “Because you’ll just
ask me stupid questions that I don’t want to answer.”

“What did you think of
Vanessa?”

“See what I mean?”

“Well?”

“I didn’t like her, Heller, if
you want to know the truth. And I don’t think she liked me much
either. She seemed very possessive and I think that will be a
problem for you in the future, especially if you start getting
itchy feet again. I also felt she was putting on an act of some
kind. She didn’t seem genuine to me. I found her very cold, stiff
and unnatural, except when she was looking at you.”

“I think you’re completely wrong
about her.”